August 24, 2005

Aussies have backbone. Who knew?

Federal Education Minister Dr Brendan Nelson says he will be meeting the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) to develop ways to teach so-called Australian values to Muslim school children.

But Dr Nelson says those who do not accept and teach Australian values should "clear off".

One of the recommendations at Prime Minister John Howard's terrorism summit yesterday was for Islamic schools to be encouraged to denounce extremism and teach about Australian traditions and culture.

The Minister says it is important for all groups to be integrated into the Australian community, whatever their religion.

"If you want to be an Australian, if you want to raise your children in Australia, we fully expect those children to be taught and to accept Australian values and beliefs," he said.

So the next question is, will they stand firm with that stance or will the Liberals in Australia made them coddle immigrants the way most of Europe does. We in the US do it too but not to the extent that most European countries do. And admittedly I doubt we have many national level politicians who would have the backbone to say what Nelson did. Kudos to the Aussies for a good show of resolve. If for some reason I emigrated to Australia, I would expect to modify my lifestyle to match Australian culture, not the other way around.

Posted by Danny Carlton at August 24, 2005 08:45 AM

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